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Saturday, July 3, 2010

A few days ago my wonderful neighbor took the kids for us so my husband and I could go out on a date. She even fed them dinner! But despite the fact that I didn’t have to cook for my family, I still made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce. Why? I am due with our fourth child in about two-and-a-half weeks and am trying to fill my freezer with delicious, nutritious, and easy meals for after her arrival. My family loves pasta, and spaghetti sauce is easy to make in large quantities and freezes well.

When making spaghetti sauce, I don’t pay extra for lean ground beef. Because you brown the beef before you use it, a lot of the fat cooks out. I watch the grocery ads for great deals on 80% lean ground beef. I can occasionally find it for $1.67/lb. in a 10-lb. bag at Raley’s. Whoa, that’s a lot of beef! Yes it is! I take it home, pull out my kitchen scale, and freeze it in 1-lb. portions.

Speaking of freezing meat, that is one of my weaknesses. Sometimes I buy too much, knowing I can freeze it. I don’t have a food sealing system or even use zip-top bags when freezing meat. I’ve found that tightly wrapping it in plastic wrap and then foil works just as well and is a lot cheaper. Before sticking it in the freezer, I always write the type of meat, how much there is, and the date on each package.

On another note, this recipe calls for two celery ribs. Just as a point of clarification, a rib of celery is one piece, or stick of celery. A stalk of celery is a bunch of celery ribs and is how it is sold at the store.

Back to the spaghetti sauce, another great thing about this recipe is that you can turn leftover sauce into chili or minestrone. I’ll post those recipes another time.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 large onion

2 lbs. ground beef (or turkey)

75 oz. tomato sauce

12 oz. tomato paste

30 oz. canned diced tomatoes

2 celery ribs

1 green bell pepper

6 mushrooms

½ Tbsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried parsley

½ tsp. dried thyme

3 bay leaves

NOTE: For sweeter, more tomatoey sauce, use less herbs. For more savory sauce, use more herbs.

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What's for Dinner?

When asked this question by any of her seven children, our Great Grandmother would reply, "As near to nothing as I can get." As we now have families of our own, this has become our mindset when it comes to the cost of feeding our families. Finances are limited for both of our families. However, with some time and creativity, it is easy to prepare healthy, delicious, and affordable meals at home. We're here to walk you through that process as we share some of the things we've learned from our own experiences.